Turkey Chili

by Valerie on January 14, 2009 · 6 comments


Welcome to What’s Cooking Wednesday. As always be sure to check out WCW’s home at Tales of the Fairy Blogmother.

So it’s been freezing quite a bit lately – time for chili! I wanted to make a turkey chili that was different than the usual chipotle chili I make – more bell peppers, different flavors the one I tend to use (chipotle and deglazing with beer), strong cumin flavor. I was also curious about using chocolate as a flavoring agent in chili. After some hunting around, I found this Bon Appetit 1997 Turkey Chili recipe which fit most of my criteria. So I tweaked and came up with the variation below. It was delicious and had great depth of flavor. I used red kidney beans (I have a surplus of those right now), but because white beans are more flavor neutral I could see those working better.


Turkey Chili

Inspired by Bon Appetit

Makes at least 8 servings

1 tablespoon canola oil
2 medium onions, chopped

2 bell peppers chopped (CGL Note: I used 1 red and 1 green).
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
2 1/2 ground cumin
1 pounds lean ground turkey
1/4 cup chili powder (CGL Note: It seems like a lot but it really works)
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (CGL Note: I used Lake Champlain New World Drinking Chocolate – yes it has sugar in it, but it’s such a high cocoa content I figured it would work fine – and it did!)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 28-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes (whole or crushed)

2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 15-ounce cans red kidney beans or small white beans, rinsed, drained
For garnish: grated cheddar cheese, plain low-fat yogurt or light sour cream, chopped cilantro, chopped red onions.


Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions, saute for about 5 minutes. Add peppers, saute another 5-10 minutes, until onions are light brown and tender. Add thyme and cumin; stir 1 minute. Increase heat to medium-high. Add turkey; stir until no longer pink, breaking up with back of spoon. Stir in chili powder, bay leaves, cocoa powder, salt and cinnamon. Add tomatoes with their juices, breaking up with back of spoon. Mix in stock and tomato paste. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add beans to chili and simmer until flavors blend, about 20 minutes longer. Discard bay leaves. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium-low heat before continuing.) Ladle chili into bowls, and top with whichever garnish you would like.

Picture by City Girl


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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Rosa's Yummy Yums January 14, 2009 at 3:00 pm

That Chili looks delicious and really comforting!

Cheers,

Rosa

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2 JillEBean January 14, 2009 at 10:28 pm

How can you go wrong if it has chocolate in it!!! I think I’ll have to try it. Is the cumin really dominant flavour, or could I leave it out?

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3 giz January 15, 2009 at 2:17 pm

I looked at the ingredient list and said WOW and then looked at the finished product and said WOW WOW. Looks gorgeous.

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4 The Curator January 15, 2009 at 9:09 pm

That looks really good and sounds like even I, who can barely boil water, could make it! I’m going to try it this weekend. :)

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5 Pink Heels January 16, 2009 at 3:14 am

Check it out! Is that your fancy schmancy pot? Looks good!

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6 Noodlegirl January 17, 2009 at 9:39 pm

I came across your blog and just wnated to let you know I will be doing so quite often as a fellow city girl who is not in the city right now!

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